Continuing its crackdown on a gang that defrauded an elderly woman of Rs 2.98 crore through “digital arrest” and a fake court room, the Cyber Crime team of the Panchkula police has made fifth arrest in the case from Uttar Pradesh.
The accused has been identified as Izhar Ahmed, a resident of Kolkata, currently living as a tenant in Pratapgarh district, Uttar Pradesh. The accused was produced in the court on May 5. After obtaining an eight-day remand, the police are interrogating him to trace the other accused involved in the fraud.
On January 15, the police had arrested Nitin Singhal from East Delhi after conducting a raid. Investigations revealed he had approximately Rs 17 lakh in his bank account. The accused was remanded to judicial custody. Subsequently, the police arrested two other accused, Ajay and Ram. Both originally hailed from Mathura district in UP and were currently living in a rented house in Mohali. On January 28, the police arrested fourth accused, Raman Kumar, a resident of Punjab. The case is being investigated by Sub-Inspector Bhup Singh.
How woman was tricked
In her complaint to the police, a Panchkula resident said on December 4 last she received a call and the caller identified himself as an employee of a telecom company and informed her about a service outage. The call was then connected to a supposed senior official, followed by a person claiming to be a CBI officer. The caller falsely accused the woman of being involved in a money laundering case worth crores of rupees through banking channels. The accused also sent her photographs showing a man being arrested in the purported case.
The accused threatened her with house arrest, stating that a police vehicle was parked outside her home and that she could not leave without permission. Through a video call, the accused made the woman “appear” in a simulated courtroom, where fake policemen and a fake judge were present.
They tricked her into transferring Rs 29.8 million to various accounts.
